Three sadhvis ‘raped’ at Nawada ashram, five booked

An FIR has been lodged against five persons in connection with the alleged rape of three sadhvis at an ashram in Govindpur in Bihar’s Nawada district. Though the alleged incident took place on the night of December 12, the three victims had reportedly gone into hiding in West Bengal out of fear and lodged the case after their return.

Police said the FIR was registered on January 4 at Govindpur police station against Kalpanath Choudhary, Girjashankar Choudhary, Tapasyanand, Ajit Choudhary and Dilchand Patel, all of them hailing from Uttar Pradesh. All the five accused were directly or indirectly associated with the ashram and would visit very often.

Three of them, it is learnt, were sewadars there. Five unknown persons have also been booked. There have been no arrests so far. According to the FIR, the incident took place around 10 pm on December 12 at Sant Kabir Ashram at Govindpur, where about 50 men and women lived. Most of them would preach in villages of Bihar and adjoining states of Jharkhand and UP. Three sadhvis had been cooking that night when they heard a knock on their door. Kalpanath allegedly dragged the sadhvi who opened the door. When the two other sadhvis tried to save her, they were allegedly grabbed by the other accused. Kalpanath, Tapasyanand and Dilchand allegedly took the three sadhvis to a room and raped them.

Two other accused allegedly remained posted at the gates with pistols in their hands. The three accused, two of them from UP and one from Gaya, were allegedly threatened against going to police. After the five accused left the ashram, the three accused fled to Bengal and returned early this month.